Tagging the Higgs

We study the effects of jet tagging at small angles on signal and background cross sections in the production of a heavy Higgs boson in pp collisions at LHC/SSC energies, in which the Higgs decay, via a W+W- pair into a charged lepton, a neutrino and a pair of jets. The use of the tagging conditions is shown to improve the signal-to-background ratio by about two orders of magnitude. A more detailed analysis of the decay products can substantially enhance this ratio. We point out that the energy asymmetry of the jets may be very helpful in this respect. Our conclusion is that a 1:1 signal-to-background ratio is feasible at both the LHC and the SSC. (orig.)